County commissioners will consider an increase of 6.85 cents in the property tax rate for the upcoming fiscal year and are scheduling public hearings in September to give residents the opportunity to voice their opinions on the subject.
Limestone County Tax Assessor-Collector Stacy Hall told the court the tax rate to fund the proposed budget would have to be $0.6220 per $100 property valuation. That rate exceeds last year’s tax rate of $0.5535, an increase of $0.0685 per $100 valuation.

It also is higher than the effective tax rate of $0.5786 per $100 valuation, which is the amount the new rate would have to be to match last year’s revenues generated. The effective tax rate is higher than last year’s actual rate primarily because of a drop in value of the NRG Energy power plant and a decrease in mineral and other industrial and utility property values.

The proposed new rate is not as high as the rollback rate of $0.6261 per $100 valuation, which is the rate at which voters could petition for an election to lower the rate to the rollback rate.